KVR Audio

Karmacomposer · Post by **Karmacomposer** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:50 pm

Check out 'America's Got Talent'

There's a guy that created one of these for the season opener audition - he literally used the entire ampitheater as the instrument. It was mind blowing. I believe he used a violin bow against the steel strings.

He made it through and may have already been on the other day. I am going to watch it on the DVR. I wonder if he'll use the same instrument or make something new?

I did work with Harmless, Harmor, Sakura and Sytrus and was able to come up with the actual opening TWANG you hear in movies like 2010 (when they are in space and see the monolith for the 1st time) . . "Dr. Floyd . . . Dr Floyd"

In fact, I used my multi-layered sound in my new soundset, Arcana. It DOES NOT sound like a Blaster, but does have the elements of the bass part of it.

Mike

CrystalWizard · Post by **CrystalWizard** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:24 am

ah yes, the Beam! used by Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead usually in their "space" parts of live shows. that thing through their highest of hi-fi pa was a serious treat to noise mongers like myself. here's a bit of history (read the comments especially):

http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2004/12/ ... s-and.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_Beam

strange how wiki doesn't mention Hart

i don't think a sample could possibly do it justice because it has such a randomness to it. i've often wanted to make my own....(another project)

i'll check out Sakura~

CapnLockheed · Post by **CapnLockheed** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:39 pm

Wiki does mention Mickey's version of the Beam here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apocal ... w_Sessions

And here's a You Tube clip of the Beam in action at a Dead show:

Sound Mechanics · Post by **Sound Mechanics** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:11 pm

fandango · Post by **fandango** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:18 pm

I have a theory that IL Sytrus (as Karmacomposer says) could also manage this type of sound. There's a Sytrus preset "Pad Hell" that, when played around C-2, seems like it could be coaxed into something similar to the Blaster Beam.

Oddly enough, I thought I could make something similar to a blaster beam in Ogun (which on paper seems like the perfect thing for the job) but I haven't had any success.

Amazing sounding instrument though. Don't think any synth can do it justice.

Karmacomposer · Post by **Karmacomposer** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:29 pm

fandango wrote:I have a theory that IL Sytrus (as Karmacomposer says) could also manage this type of sound. There's a Sytrus preset "Pad Hell" that, when played around C-2, seems like it could be coaxed into something similar to the Blaster Beam.

Oddly enough, I thought I could make something similar to a blaster beam in Ogun (which on paper seems like the perfect thing for the job) but I haven't had any success.

Amazing sounding instrument though. Don't think any synth can do it justice.

You need to combine Ogun (gotta get lucky), Sytrus and Harmor/Harmless and you COULD make something quite similar to the bass end. Not the performance of a true Blaster, but what could????????

Only a true Blaster played by a Blaster Master!

Mike

fandango · Post by **fandango** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:42 pm

Blaster Master? I hear he's too busy running "Bartertown". (oh no, wait...)

ENV1 · Post by **ENV1** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:00 pm

With FM and reverb one can get reasonably close to the essence of that sound.

Short example here: http://6yq547.1fichier.com/en/

First attempt, so of course not perfect, (and i dont think it will ever be), but with a little more tweaking it might at least become halfways usable.

Will try to improve at the weekend when i have more time...

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:20 pm

pj geerlings wrote:... And I can't let a thread like this go without mentioning that I was the guy that actually built the Blaster Beam for Craig Hundley in the late 70s

Cool!

So, Craig Hundley = Craig Huxley? And he wasn't exactly the inventor then as is popularly perceived?

maxmace · Post by **maxmace** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:39 pm

Craig Hundley and Craig Huxley are the same guy. If you look on IMDB you can see when he stopped using the first name as a child actor.

In the 80's he started running the Enterprise studio in LA where a ton of famous stuff was recorded. AFAIK he still runs the studio.

There was a Prophet V patch that simulated this sound pretty well. I'll bet its too much to ask if anyone has a copy of that patch.

Also, I believe Huxley recently performed the Blaster Beam at a Star Trek Soundtrack release event in LA in May or June. Did anyone on the list attend?

xoxos · Post by **xoxos** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:46 pm

there's no comparison between software emulation and complex physical structures (especially the sort played like this) but if you're only after the one timbre... eg. my modal vst has a 'laser fence' patch that is intended to simulate the twang of a percussed wire and will produce that same ~mess of partials. 'stretch' param will simulate thicker bars/wires.

at least i'd recommend using modal synthesis or similar for bars rather than a waveguide, unless it happens to have an unusually high order allpass.

BEAMEMUP · Post by **BEAMEMUP** » Wed Jan 10, 2024 4:52 pm

Hello everyone! This is my first post here. I am Eric Mitchell. I am the Founder, Designer, Builder and Janitor at BEAMEMUP. We build beam instruments. I am compiling the history of this instrument and the players and builders as part of a new web page I am making. This document is for academic and personal purposes and will be posted online and shared when complete. There is a member here named "pj geerlings" who built a beam for Craig Huxley. I would love to speak to him and cement his legacy with this instrument. PJ? please contact me here or search for me online.

Thanks everyone.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:27 pm

BEAMEMUP wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2024 4:52 pm Hello everyone! This is my first post here. I am Eric Mitchell. I am the Founder, Designer, Builder and Janitor at BEAMEMUP. We build beam instruments. I am compiling the history of this instrument and the players and builders as part of a new web page I am making. This document is for academic and personal purposes and will be posted online and shared when complete. There is a member here named "pj geerlings" who built a beam for Craig Huxley. I would love to speak to him and cement his legacy with this instrument. PJ? please contact me here or search for me online.

Thanks everyone.

nice! they look great.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:57 pm

BEAMEMUP wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2024 4:52 pmThere is a member here named "pj geerlings" who built a beam for Craig Huxley. I would love to speak to him and cement his legacy with this instrument. PJ? please contact me here or search for me online.

Thanks everyone.

pj doesnt appear to have logged in at kvr since last march, but ive sent him a private message indicating that you're trying to get in touch...

BEAMEMUP · Post by **BEAMEMUP** » Wed Jan 10, 2024 8:54 pm

Thank you for your help!